From Jennifer Lopez to the Hemsworth brothers to Elisabeth Moss, Hallmark leads are shooting for the stars when it comes to potential celebrities they want to see join the network.
Us got a chance to speak with a handful of Hallmark’s fan-favorite stars on Tuesday, August 4, at a red carpet event for Hallmark Channel’s 25th Birthday at The 92nd Street Y, New York. During the exclusive interviews, Alison Sweeney, Ashley Williams, Holly Robinson Peete, Wes Brown, Autumn Reeser, Niall Matter, Victor Webster, Rachel Boston, Nikki DeLoach, Andrew Walker, Erin Cahill and Kimberley Sustad weighed in on their first roles — and looked ahead at the future of Hallmark.
Tyler Hynes, Heather Hemmens, B.J. Britt, Marilu Henner, Barbara Niven, Scott Michael Foster, Lacey Chabert, Jonathan Bennett and Benjamin Ayres also weighed in on their favorite parts of working at Hallmark while pitching possible star-studded cast additions.
“There’s so many talented actors and actresses out there. This is a world that I think is becoming more and more tempting to people,” Walker told Us. “They are wanting to dip their toes into what Hallmark is doing because it’s really a pop culture phenomenon.”
He continued: “Countdown to Christmas is just taking the world by storm. So who doesn’t want to work in these movies? Who doesn’t want to tell these love stories?”
Keep scrolling to see who your favorite Hallmark stars want to share the screen with:
Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage
After watching City of Angels, Hynes loved the idea of bringing the leads over to Hallmark, telling Us, “It’s one of my favorite movies. So let’s get Nicolas Cage in there too. He will do some wild stuff.
Jim Carrey
To top it off, Hynes threw Carrey’s name out there for a future Hallmark movie.
Jennifer Lopez
“I want J. Lo to come in,” Hemmens told Us. “She’s the queen of rom-coms. Bring J-Lo to Hallmark and we can play.”
As for what role Hemmens sees for the singer? “She can play my auntie,” she added.
Elisabeth Moss
While speaking to Us in a joint interview with DeLoach, Walker recalled how Moss “wanted to be part of the Hallmark family” in the past.
“She would be amazing,” DeLoach noted about the chance to work with Moss on a cozy Christmas movie.
The Hemsworth Brothers
Williams chose to go big by pitching all three Hemsworth brothers.
“Why can’t we have Liam Hemsworth in a Hallmark movie? He’s also got those cute brothers,” she quipped. “I feel like it’s time we aim high.”
Williams continued: “Is it too much to ask that I want to kiss Liam Hemsworth? I don’t think I’m aiming too high. I want a movie with all of the Hemsworth brothers.”
Peete, meanwhile, threw out names such as Reno Wilson, Adrian Holmes and Blair Underwood while Sweeney went back to her soap star roots to mention Kristian Alfonso.
“I have always been angling to try to get her to come up and play with us and do a movie together because she’s just a delight,” Sweeney shared before joking, “And I can’t say a guy because the fan bases at Days of Our Lives … it would be a big thing.”
Jeremy Allen White
Sustad made a request for White to drop by now that The Bear has concluded.
“I feel like that was a darker role and he really had to dig deep for that,” she said. “He now might want to come and do a rom-com with me. I’m here.”
Christopher Nolan
Following The Odyssey’s box office success, Brown suggested that Nolan expand his filmography by making a Hallmark film in 4D.
Alyssa Milano and Stana Katic
Webster dug into the archives of his past work to pitch Milano from Charmed and Katic, whom he worked with on Castle. Boston, meanwhile, also pulled inspiration from a past fantasy project when she mentioned her onscreen mother Julia Ormond from Witches of East End.
Cheyenne Jackson
Bennett brought up pal Jackson for a possible role in a Christmas movie — which Ayres cosigned during the joint interview.
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Chabert is still holding out hope for a movie with Hewitt after reuniting with Scott Wolf in the past.
Italia Ricci and Janel Parrish
Foster, meanwhile, wanted to see Ricci on set with him again after Chasing Life. He also mentioned Parrish as a possible reunion after they worked together in the past.
Kurt Russell
Niven used Chabert and Foster’s choices as inspiration for her pitch that Russell join her as a love interest at Hallmark.
“I think once people get into the Hallmark atmosphere here, they fall in love with it,” she noted. “Because it’s a great place to work and be a family and put out good work.”
